First aid kits review and compare

04.How we tested and what to look for

How we tested

Our tester checked the items included in each kit and awarded different scores based on:

Full compliance with the standard (including provision of an inventory and instructions, rust resistance for scissors and forceps, and adequate stretching for bandages); or fulfilling the function but not having the required number or size of items; partially meeting the function; or items were absent, or failed to meet the function. The tester awarded scores for the inclusion of an inventory and basic first aid information. For the rust test, she put the washed and rinsed scissors and forceps in plastic containers lined with wet cotton wool, and checked them for rust after one week. To determine whether bandages would stretch to at least twice their length, she placed clamps on each of the bandages one metre apart, stretching them to capacity before comparing their stretched length to their unstretched length recorded earlier.

Items missing

Both First Aid International kits had some items missing, such as scissors, forceps and other items. We don’t know whether they’d never been included or had gone astray before they were sold. In a shop, look for tamper-proof packaging to ensure no items have been removed or swapped. If a kit isn't sealed, items can go walkabout. When you buy a kit online, check its contents against the inventory on the receipt.

Discounts

Members of the NRMA or RACV receive a 15% discount when purchasing a St John first aid kit, after showing their card.

Putting together your own kit

If you're not inclined to buy a first aid kit, you can make your own. Any container is suitable as long as it’s resealable, waterproof and gives you good access when open. You don’t want to waste time rummaging through the contents when you need a bandage fast.

Your kit should contain painkillers, antiseptic creams, insect treatment and the like. Check the use-by dates regularly and update the contents as necessary.

Five common emergencies

Dealing with common emergencies We also assessed the kits to see whether they’d cope with five common emergencies:

stopping a major bleed

treating a serious burn

giving first aid to someone with a fractured limb

handling a foreign body in a wound or an eye

treating an insect or snake bite.

Our thanks go to the Australian Red Cross and St John Ambulance Australia, for their advice on what you’d need for these emergencies.

Thirteen of the 22 kits passed this test, containing at least the necessary minimum equipment or equivalent. Nine failed, but three of them did so only because they lacked an insect bite/sting relief treatment or cold pack. This was a common omission, lacking in eight kits, but given that you can easily buy bite/sting relief cream, we didn’t think it was as bad a failure as some of the others.

All kits had items to help users cope with major bleeding, with at least one combination dressing (which includes a pad and bandage) or separate wound dressing pads and a bandage. However, three kits (Ambulance Victoria, St John Small Emergency and Tyco Healthcare) failed to include even a single non-adherent dressing, which you’d need — together with a stretch bandage — to give adequate first-aid treatment for a serious burn.

Saline or an equivalent is needed to clean and remove foreign bodies from eyes, wounds and burns. Four kits (the Australian Red Cross Personal Kit, Tyco Healthcare, Trafalgar Home Kit and Equip Family First Aid Kit) failed to include it.

The Equip kit also lacked a triangular bandage, which you’d need to use as a sling for a fractured limb.

Standard being ignored

We tested all 22 kits against Australian standard AS 2675-1983 (Kit B, general-purpose kits).

This is a voluntary standard, and while many kits’ contents are obviously based on it, none fully complied with it. In fact, only one kit included all the items that are essential to provide first aid in an emergency, according to the standard: the Australian Red Cross Household Kit. However, not even in this top-scoring kit were all items sized as specified in the standard.

Some kits were really just basic ‘personal’ kits, which are generally cheaper and less comprehensive than ‘general purpose’ kits. However, we’ve included them in this test because they were often described as for ‘general purpose’, a label that’s obviously used to cover a wide range of kits.

Some kits didn’t come close to meeting the standard. They lacked, for example, the non-adherent dressing you’d need to cover a serious burn, or a triangular bandage to use with a fractured limb. Others had the correct items you’d need in an emergency but not enough of them, or in sizes different from those specified in the standard: fewer gauze swabs, different-sized bandages, or bandages that won’t stretch enough to do a proper job.

Even basic but essential items were missing from many kits, such as:

a pencil and notepad

tissues or a hand towel

plastic bags and

safety pins

And things weren’t much better with regard to optional items. These items were also often missing from (or inadequately provided by) kits:

An emergency foil blanket

alcohol swabs

saline and

insect bite treatment

Last, but not least, we checked the provision of information in the kits according to the standard. After all, what’s the use of having the correct equipment if you’ve no idea what to do, or how to use certain things? Two kits provided no first aid instructions, and eight no inventory of what they contained. Only seven had an inventory and explanatory notes on how to use each item.

Given such obvious disregard by the first aid industry for the detail in the standard, we think it’s in urgent need of an update to make it seem relevant again.

The standard is adequately comprehensive with regard to major emergencies, but doesn’t mention basic infection control items, such as gloves and a resuscitation mask or shield. All but one of the 22 kits in our test contained disposable gloves, but only 10 had a resuscitation mask or shield.

What to look for

With these contents (based on AS 2675-1983, Kit B) in your ‘general purpose’ first aid kit, you should be equipped for a range of emergency situations.

Three sterile wound dressings of different sizes, to protect wounds, use as an eyepad, or help control bleeding by applying pressure.

Three rolls of stretch bandage, 50, 75 an 100mm wide and at least 1.5m long (and stretchable to twice that length), to hold dressings in place, support injured limbs or give first aid for poisonous bites.

Two triangular calico bandages with at least 900 mm edge length each, to use as slings or dressings, or as bandages to hold large dressings or splints in place.

At least five safety pins about 40mm long, to hold bandages in place.

One pair of rust-resistant scissors about 100mm long, with at least one blunt point, to cut dressings and bandages, or to cut away clothing.

One pair of rust-resistant, pointed forceps, with accurately aligned tips and in a protective case, for removing splinters and stings.

One pencil and notepad, to record times and details or for passing messages.